Border Enforcement and the Sorting and Commuting Patterns of Hispanics

TLDR: The authors analyzed the effect of immigration enforcement by the U.S. Border Patrol on the sorting and commuting patterns of Hispanics using a regression discontinuity design based on a 100-Mile Border Zone.

Abstract: I analyze the effects of immigration enforcement by the U.S. Border Patrol on the sorting and commuting patterns of Hispanics. Using a regression discontinuity design based on a 100-Mile Border Zone, which permits Border Patrol agents to conduct warrantless searches within 100 air miles of the U.S. border, I find that the share of Hispanics in southwestern states increases outside the Border Zone. This sorting effect disappears, however, when focusing on within-county differences in shares of Hispanics. I also find no significant commuting effect on Hispanics at the 100-mile cutoff. On the contrary, I show that Hispanics near Border Patrol checkpoints inside the Border Zone exhibit significantly different commuting patterns, commuting at lower probabilities toward checkpoints and over shorter distances than non-Hispanics.